Refrigerator Clean Out

What I Found:

1 large sweet potato

1 green bell pepper

1 large onion

6 whole baby bella mushrooms

1 package of 5 Johnsonville Bit O' Garlic Irish Sausages

1 small package of organic baby broccoli florets and carrots

What I Did:

Threw it all together, added 1/2 cup water, drizzled with a tige of good olive oil, added freshly ground pepper and some French sea salt, baked at 350 covered for 30 minutes, stirred and baked uncovered until sausages browned, 15 more minutes

What I Got:

Curry Chicken Salad with Free Joke

Joke: Why did the Buddhist rotisserie chicken quit crossing the road?

Answer: So she wouldn't have to keep being reincarnated as a new dish/recipe at Dana's house

Yuck, Yuck, Yuck...OK, not so funny, but I just made it up and humor isn't my forte'.

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I was determined to use every last bit of that chicken.  About three years ago I had a wonderful Curry Chicken Salad at the Norton Museum of Art restaurant.  I tried making it once, but couldn't quite nail it.  Today though...well,  today was a home run.  I used what I had on hand.  Be creative when you try this.  The salad at the Norton had grapes and almonds.  I had dried apricots and cashews.  Recipe follows: (ALL MEASURES ARE APPROXIMATE)

 Curry Chicken Salad

2 cups diced chicken

3/4 cup diced onion

2 stalks diced celery

1/2 cup chopped cashews

3/4 cup diced dried apricots

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsely

2T curry powder*

1T cumin

salt

freshly ground pepper

3/4 cup sour cream OR plain yogurt OR yuck, but if you like it, ok...a high quality mayonnaise like Dukes

*my advice is to start with lesser amounts of spices, sour cream etc and keep tasting until your taste buds start doing the happy dance...you can always add more seasoning if needed, but you can't remove it once added.

**this version is soo good it's a sacrilege to overpower it with bread.  We ate it naked (the chicken salad, not us...those days are long gone) accompanied by multi-grain crackers...wonderful!

Speaking of Salmon

Yesterday I posted a really simple and delicious recipe for poached salmon to be served either hot or cold. The thing is, I am a sucker for salmon. I am also a sucker for the huge glass fish-shaped platter shown in the poached salmon recipe. And, I am really a sucker for how food looks, the aesthetics of presentation, the color palette one can achieve, the food porn of it. This being said, I always, always, always buy an entire salmon fillet, even if it's just the two of us for dinner. I love the color of it. I love the shape of it. I love the way it fills up almost the entire surface area of that heavy, heavy fish platter. If you can find it, there is nothing more delicious than fresh wild salmon. Every year, for a month or so, our local Costco gets in wild salmon. While farmed salmon is good, wild salmon is excellent beyond description. It's a beautiful thing.

After all my big salmon love fest talk, and poaching and presenting, the next big issue becomes what to do with the leftovers. Even with another couple as dinner guests, there arealways leftovers. I have a plan. I always have a plan...or two...for leftover food. We never, ever throw away food.Below is my recipe for a delicious baked salmon souffle'-type casserole. It uses either canned salmon or, as I do, leftover poached salmon (I've never tried it with smoked salmon, but imagine that would also be good). It's very light and very tasty.

Salmon Souffle'ish* Casserole

 Ingredients:

1- 14 oz. can red salmon, well drained and round cartilage picked out or 2 cups cold leftover salmon

1 medium onion finely diced

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 beaten egg

1.5  cups milk

1 sleeve (about 24) Keebler Club Crackers broken into very small pieces**

1 Tbsp minced parsley

Method:

Mix all ingredients together. Pour into lightly greased 1 1/2Qt casserole dish. Dot the top with small pats of butter and sprinkle with parsley. Bake at 350 degrees 45 mins. to 1 hr or until top is lightly browned and knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

 * Please do not leave me a note (well, you can if you really want to and it makes you feel better in some way) telling me that souffle'ish is not a word.  I know it isn't.  I made it up to try to describe how light and delicate this dish really is.  I love the word and I'm keeping it...so there!.

*FWIW ("for what it's worth" in geek speak), for about twenty-five years I made this dish using Saltines.  A few years ago I started putting the dish together, reached in the pantry and no Saltines!  Flexibility is my middle name so out came the Keebler Club crackers.  Since that day, I've never looked back.  The club crackers make a lighter more buttery tasting dish.  The choice is yours.  Also, I just dump the crackers into a plastic bag, make a fist and smash the heck out of them.  It makes the right size crumbs, not too course or not too fine and helps to release all of my aggressions and hostilities in a constructive and legal manner.